Ammunition-hoist.



A- V. SANTARSIERO.

AMMUNITION HOIST.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I6. 1914.

1,157,048. Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

miincsscs COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CO.,WASHINGTON. n. c.

A. V. SANTARSIERO.

AMMUNITION HOIST.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.16.I914.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

3331x1255 vs I COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D. c

A. V. SANTARSIERO.

AMMUNITION HOIST.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I6. 1914.

1,157,048, Patent-ed Oct. 19, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGIIAI'II F'RJVASHINGTON. 1). c.

A. V. SANTARSIERO.

AMMUNITION HOIST.

APPLICATION HLED DEC. H5. 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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COLUMBIA PLANDGPAPH c0.. WASHINGTON. D. c

llhlllED STATE PATENT @hFlQE.

ANTONIO V. SANTARSIERO, OF PORT CHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T ANTONIO BUCCI, OF PORT CHESTER, NEW YORK.

AMMUNITIQiv-HOIsT.

1,157Ald8.

Application filed December 16, 1314.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, An'ronio V. SANTAR- since, a citizen of the United States, residing at Port Chester in the county of lVestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ammunition-Hoists; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to ordnance, and more especially to ammunition hoists; and the object of the same is the production of a machine controlled by a single operator whereby heavy projectiles can be loaded into the gun. The machine comprises an elevator for taking the ammunition piece by piece from a low point, preferably at the delivery end of a chute, and raising it to a position where it will be delivered automatically to a carriage; mechanism for moving the carriage forward and backward at the proper time so as to carry the shell to the gun and to retract the carriage to permit recoil; the rammer; the driving mechanism for the various parts of this machine; andthe controls. Details will be set forth in the following specification and claims, and are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure l is a plan view of this machine complete, Fig. 2 is a side elevation with the rammer retracted, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section with the rammer still retracted but the gun in its recoil position. Fig. f is a front elevation of the machine as a whole, the parts being here in position with the rammer projected; and Fig. 5 is a detail.

In the drawings I have diagrammatically illustrated the gun G and its breech block carrier B without showing the means for supporting, sightin firing, or cleaning the gun; I have indicated at C a chute or other point from which the shells S are to be taken, and while this chute is shown as above the deck D, it of course could be and prob ably would be below; and I have illustrated the entire ammunition hoist as driven by an electric motor M and controlled by a set of levers L, the motor and the levers being shown as on the same deck for the purposes of illustration only. The parts thus far re- Specifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

Serial No. 877,561.

ferred to are susceptible of various modifications and, in fact, form no part of the present invention. Even the motor could be replaced by power taken from any suitable source and communicated in any proper way to the driving shaft referred to below, and the levers L could be any proper form of controls and located at any suitable point although by preference I would have them near each other so that they could be operated by a single operator, and the latter could be replaced if he became injured.

Coming now to details of the present constructirn, the numeral 1 designates a driving shaft mounted in suitable bearings and connected by a direct belt 2 and a crossed belt 3 with the motor, these belts passing over fast and loose pulleys on the driving shaft and being simultaneously shifted by any suitable form of belt shifter l which constitutes one of the controls. By its manipulation the driving shaft may be rotated in either direction at will.

The numeral 11 designates what I will call the rammer shaft, herein shown as connected by a belt 12 and fast and loose pulleys with the driving shaft 1, and controlled by a belt shifter 1-1 whose lever preferably stands within reach of a single operator and in the group marked L.

The numeral 21 designates what I will call the elevatorshaft, herein shown as c'onnected by a belt 22 and fast and loose pulleys with the driving shaft 1, the belt being controlled by a shifter 24- whose lever also stands within said group. All these levers are designed to be actuated manually, but mechanical means may be employed as set forth below. As above stated, the driving mechanism and the control mechanism are 1 shown herein as mounted upon the deck, but more for the purposes of lllustration than because they would be in that exposed position.

Traveling on a suitable track is a car- I riage 31 whose upper face is dished as at 32 and grooved as at 33 along the bottom of its dished portion, and the lower face of this carriage preferably has teeth 34 engaging a chain 35 passing around sprocket wheels 36 and 37, the latter being mounted fast on the elevator shaft 21. It follows, therefore, that whatever movement is imparted to the carriage will be in timed relation with the movements of the elevator. The height of the carriage is such that its dished upper face 32 holds the shells S in alinement with the bore of the gun G when the breech block carrier B is thrown open, and the length of this grooved face is such that the rammer may move along it in rear of the shell, whatever the position of the carriage.

The elevator herein shown is made up of a pair of endless chains 40 carrying a single bucket 41 adapted to raise a shell S from the lower end of the chute C and deliver it over a guide table 42 (see Fig. 4) whence it runs down into the dished portion 32 of the carriage 31. At their upper ends the chains pass over idle sprockets 43 suitably supported, and at their lower ends these chains pass over other sprockets 44 fast on a shaft 45 which is geared as at 46 to the elevator shaft 21. It follows that when the latter is rotated by the driving mechanism first above described. the shaft 45 will be turned in a proper direction to cause the elevator to raise a shell and deliver it as shown in Fig. 4then it becomes necessary to reverse the direction of rotation of the shaft 45 so that the bucket 41 descends for another shell, the latter being among those rolling down the chute C as shown.

The rammer consists of a head 50 having a relatively short shank 51, either the head or the shank being provided with a (preferably dove-tailed) guide 53 traveling in the groove 33. and a long link or rod 54 pivoted at 52 to the rear end ofthe shank. At its rear end this rod 54 is pivoted at 55 on a cross bar or shaft 56 which forms the center of a bent or a U-shaped lever 57whose legs are pivotally supported as at 58. Said cross bar 56 is continued beyond the side arms or legs of the lever 57 as perhaps best seen in Fig. 1, and is pivoted at 59 to the rear ends of two pitman rods 60. The front ends of these rods are pivoted to wrist pins or cranks 61 on two large twin wheels 62 whose stub shafts 63 project outward or away from each other and are journaled in bearings 64 as shown; each stub shaft being here illustrated as connected by belt and pulleys 65 with the rammer shaft 11. The result is that these twin wheels 62 are rotated in strict unison with each other and in either direction, so that their crank pins 61 simultaneously actuate the pitman rods to swing the U-shaped lever 57 and actuate the rammer.

While it is possible that the levers L may be under manual control, it is also possible to employ automatic cut-outs or controls,

and in the drawings I have shown bot-11.

That is to say, a cam 47 secured to one side of the carriage 31 at a point where it will pass beneath the adjacent wheel 62, engages a tongue 48 carried by the inner end of the belt shifter rod 24 and automatically moves said rod to carry the belt over onto the loose.

pulley as it has done in Fig. 1. It follows that if the operator should not shift this rod at the proper moment to stop the rise of the elevator and to check the forward movement of the carriage, this mechanism will do it automatically. The tongue 48 is connected by a thumb-latch mechanism 49 with a thumb-latch on the lever L which actuates the shifter. In a similar manner a cam 67 on one of the wheels 62 engages a tongue 68 at the inner end of the belt shifter mechanism 14, and this tongue may be raised by thumb-latch mechanism 69- as indicated in Fig. 5. Said view is a duplicate of the mechanism on the belt shifter 24, but these mechanisms are susceptible of considerable modification and are therefore shown only diagrammatically. The idea is that the operator shall have 'means for raising the tongues 48 or 68 when he desires to again shift the belt as will be explained below.

In the operation of this device we may assume that the gun has been firedand has reco-iled to the position shown in Fig. 3, after which it will be pushed forward by the gunners and its breech block opened so that the carrier stands as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, and it is now desired to load it again. The elevator control mechanism is manually moved at the point L so that the shifter 24 g throws the belt 22 onto the fast pulley on shaft 21, and the rotation of this shaft commences. Through the feed mechanism 34 and .35 the carriage 31 begins to move forward, and through the gears 46 and drive mechanism 45 and 44 the elevator bucket 41 begins to rise. Just at the time said bucket carries a shell S to the table 42 as seen in Fig 4, the carriage has reached. its forward position as seen in Fig. 1, and the shell rolls across the table and drops into the carriage at 32. Just at this moment the cam 47 (if the automatic mechanism be employed) engages the tongue 4-8 as is shown in Fig. 1, and the control 24 is actuated to throw the belt 22 onto the loose pulley and stop the rise of the elevator and the forward move ment of the carriage. If the automatic mechanism isnot employed, the operator at L must take good care to shift the belt at this time. Next he actuates the control 14 to shift the belt 12 from the loose to the fast pulley on therammer shaft 11, and the rotation of this shaft turns the twin wheels 62 and causes the forward-movement of the rammer 50 in a manner already explained. The result is that the shell, lying in the groove or channel 32 in the top of the carriage, is pushedforward as the rammer head 50 in its forward movement necessitates, and

the shell S is driven into the gun. When the rammer has reached its extreme forward position the cam 67 automatically trips the.

automatic mechanism is not employed, the operator must take good care to shift the control 14 manually, It is not sufficient, however, that the rotation of the rammer shaft 11 in a forward direction shall cease: as soon as the shell has been shoved home within the gun, the shaft must be reversed in its direction of rotation so as to withdraw the rammer and permit the closing of the breech block B. In order to quickly reverse its movement, the operator now actuates the belt shifter 4: with the result that the direct belt 2 is moved onto the idler wheel on the driving shaftl and the crossed belt 3 moved off said idler wheel onto its fast pulley, and said shaft begins to rotate in the opposite direction. As soon, then, as the rammer shaft 11 or the elevator shaft 21 is connected with the driving shaft 1, it will alsorotate in the opposite direction. The operator therefore has but to restore the belts l2 and 22 to the fast pulleys on said rammer and elevator shafts, or thishe can do by manipulating the hand controls, and this he is permitted to do if automatic controls are employed whose tongues 48 and 68 are capable of being raised by the thumb-latch mechanisms 49 and 69otherwise said tongues would rest against the cams 47 and 67 and the belt shifters l i and 2 could not be moved. First he throws in the rammer shaft 11, causing the reverse movement of the twin wheels 62 and the withdrawal of the rammer; then he throws in the elevator shaft 21 causing a simultaneous descent of the elevator bucket ll and withdrawal of the carriage 31. The latter is for the purpose of permitting the gunners to gain access to the breech block, to remove the empty shell if the projectile used be of that type, to swab the gun if necessary, and in other respects to follow their rout'ne course in preparing the gun for another charge. When the bucket 41 has reached the position 3 where another shell within the chute C can roll into it (and possibly this is at a point far below the gun deck and in the ammunition room, as above suggested) and the carriage 31 has receded to its limit, the oporator throws the belt 22 onto the loose pulley and the parts come to rest. He may now throw the belt shifter a so that the driving shaft 1 begins its rotation in the other direction, being that shown by the arrows in the drawings; and thereafter the operation is repeated by again connecting the elevator shaft and later the rammer shaft with the driving shaft which is now moving forward.

0 Thus it will be seen that by the ammunition hoist above described and fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the largest size and heaviest of projectiles can be delivered to the gun and rammed home,

5 the whole controlled by a single operator who will doubtless be located in a position Wh re he can e hat ta P a but will be out of danger; although if he should be disabled or killed, he can immediately be replaced, Also the machine provides for the descent of the elevator bucket and the withdrawal of the gun carriage at a time when space near the breech of a gun is nec sary to enable the gunners to perform their work. It is quite obvious that by altering the size of the gears at thepoint 46 the elevator could be given a greater degree of move ment so that its chains could be carried farbelow the gun deck without departing from the spirit of the present invention. As above stated, the automatic mechanism for throwing out the elevator mechanism and the ramming mechanism may be omitted if desired, although it is shown and described herein.

What is claimed as new is:

1 In an ammunition hoist, the combination with the shell-handling mechanism, and the ramming mechanism; of a main driving shaft, independent connections between it and said mechanisms, sliding controls for said connections, and mechanical means on said shell-handling mechanism and ramming mechanism for positively actuating said controls.

2. In an ammunition hoist, the combination with the shell-handling mechanism, and the ramming mechanism, each having an actuating shaft; of a main driving shaft. independent connections between it and said actuating shafts, independent controls said mechanisms, connections between said driving shaft and a source of power for rotating the former in one direction or the other, and a third control for these connec tions.

3. In an ammunition hoist, the combination with the shell-handling mechanism, and the ramming mechanism, each havingian actuating shaft; of'a main driving shaft, independent connections between it and said actuating shafts, sliding controls for said connections, levers for manually actuating Said controls, and mechanical means on said shell-handling mechanism and ramming mechanism for positively actuating said controls.

a. In an ammunition hoist, the combination with a shell carriage behind the gun, an elevator for raising shells and delivering them one by one to said carriage, and carriage -actuating mechanism connected with the elevator shaft; of a rammer movably mounted on the carriage, rammer-actuating mechanism, a rammer shaft by which it is driven, a driving shaft, connections between the latter and said other shafts, and controls for said connections. 7

5. In an ammunition hoist, the combination with a shell carriage behind the gun,

for

' necting the cranks of an elevator for raising shells and delivering them to said carriage, and carriage-actuuting mechanism connected with the elevator shaft of a rammer movably mounted on the carriage, rammer-actuating mechanism, a rammcr shaft by which it is driven, a driving shaft, connections between the latter and said other shafts, means for interrupting and'restoring said ual controls for said means, a connection between the driving shaft and a source of power for turning the former in either direction, and a third control for said connection.

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination with. a shell-handling element, a crank wheel, and connections between its crank and said element whereby the partial rotation of the wheel gives said element its complete stroke; of fast-and-loose pulley and belt connections between the shaft of said wheel and a driving shaft, belt-shifting mechanism including a sliding shifting bar having a pivoted tongue, a lever for moving said bar, a cam on said'wheel adapted to engage the tongue to shift the belt when the wheel has made said partial revolution, and thumb-latch mechanism on the lever for raising the tongue, for the purpose set forth.

7. In a gun-loading mechanism, the combination with a longitudinally movable carriage in rear of the gun, mechanism for causing its advance and recession, and an elevator for delivering shells onto said carriage; of a pair of spaced crank wheels mounted in axial alinement in rear of said carriage, a U-shaped lever, pitinan rods consaid wheels with the bend of said lever, a rammer whose head moves over said carriage, a link pivotally connecting the rammer with the bend of said U -lever,

and means for turning said wheels at Wlll.

8. In a gun-loading mechanism, the com-' riage; of a pair of spaced crank wheels mounted in rear of said carriage, a U-shaped lever, pitrian rods connecting the cranks of said wheels with the bend of said lever, a rammer whose head moves over said carriage, a link pivotally connecting the ram mer with the bend of said U-lever, mechanical means for imparting a partial rotation connections at will, manto said Wheels to advancethe rammer, manthe direction of rotation to retract the rammer, and manual controls for said means and mechanism.

I 9. In a gun loader, the combination with a longitudinally behind the gun and having its upper face dished. and grooved along the bottom of the dished portion, means for advancing'and receding the livering shells to its dished portion; of a rammer having a head provided witha guide moving in said groove, the shank of a shaft and sprocket for moving said chain,

a driving shaft, and manually controlled mechanism connecting said. shafts; of anelevator for conveying shells to the dished portion of the carriage, connections between the power shaft sprocket-wheel shaft, anda rammer. v

f 11. In an ammunition hoist, thecombination with a longitudinally movable carriage gun, an endless belt disposed in rear of the elevator disposed at one side of the carriage and having a single bucket, a table over which a shell elevated carriage when the latter is advanced, and

the ramming mechanism; of means for actuating the elevatorto raise or to lower said bucket, meansfor actuating the carriage to cause its advance or recession, positive connections between these two means, a single driving mechanism for said means, and a control for reversing the direction of its" drive, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ANTONIO V. SANTARSIERO. VVitnessesi 1 c CHAS. F. DALTON, AGNES V. JKELLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

I Washington, 1 0." 7

ually controlled mechanism for reversing movable carriage disposed carriage, and means for dc-.

of the elevator and said.

by said bucket will be delivered into the forward end of said" 

